VCD Athletic 4-1 Faversham Town - A lot of people didn't expect us to be in this position - in all honesty, neither did we, admits title-chasing VCD Athletic joint-manager Danny Joy

VCD Athletic 4 – 1 Faversham Town
Location	Oakwood, Old Road, Crayford, Kent DA1 4DN
Kickoff	25/01/2025 15:00

VCD ATHLETIC  4-1  FAVERSHAM TOWN
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Saturday 25 January 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Oakwood

VCD ATHLETIC joint-manager Danny Joy insists his side are fighting and are not going nowhere in this Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division title race after pulling off an emphatic statement win over lacklustre leaders Faversham Town.
 

The Lilywhites arrived in Crayford on a 10-match unbeaten league run but have suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time this season after losing 3-1 at home to Whitstable Town in the Kent Senior Trophy Quarter-Finals on Tuesday.

Faversham Town would have been declared champions-elect had they won here today – but they came up against a VCD Athletic side that were the better side for 75 minutes and showed plenty of desire all over the pitch and produced some eye-catching patterns of play on the pristine Oakwood grass playing surface.

The Vickers’ remain unbeaten at home in this ninth-tier league and with Fisher being held to a 2-2 home draw by Corinthian today, VCD Athletic are back in second-place in the table, five points behind Faversham Town and with a game in hand.

Joy and Ross Baker’s side set the tone, with the outstanding right-winger Francis Babalola, 35, pouncing to score with only 72 seconds on the clock, before left-winger Charlie Heatley tucked home his sixth goal of the season, from the penalty spot.

Faversham Town came out with all guns blazing at the start of the second half and striker Danny Parish notched his seventh goal for the club.

However, Sam Hasler came off the bench and just 170 seconds later was thrown into the sin-bin by referee Benjamin Marshall for swearing at assistant referee Christopher Bowdery and the home side took advantage with striker Ollie Freeman clinically scoring his 17^th goal of the season.

Babalola capped off an impressive performance by scoring his eighth-goal of the campaign as VCD Athletic told the rest of the division that they are serious players in this title race.

VCD Athletic came away from Salters Lane with an impressive performance in a 1-1 draw on 30 November and Joy was delighted with his side once again today.

“Game plan, everything came together. We’ve been waiting for that sort of performance, the last couple of weeks we’ve been playing well and it’s been building,” said Joy.

“We’ve made a couple of big additions to the squad this week, on a day where everything went right. We couldn’t ask for no more from the boys.”

When asked what his game-plan was, Joy replied: “To stick to what we do, to play. We knew Faversham were going to be physical, strong and powerful and we tried not to try to not get drawn into that sort of game because it doesn’t suit us.

“I think, although we were solid enough defensively, we won our headers, we won our duals. I thought we still played some nice football and I think that’s important, not to go away from what we believe in.”

Faversham Town manager Tommy Warrilow issued an apology to the large band of travelling supporters.

“First half, didn’t turn up. We couldn’t have started the game any worse, got caught on the ball after a minute and a half. Good finish by Babs and then they were on the ascendancy.

“Obviously the penalty, the penalty’s a penalty but I don’t think our header from the free-kick was offside when Callum Davies wins the header and that gets us in the game a little bit.

“But first half, it was nowhere near it, so I had a bit of a go at them to be honest at half-time because I just felt that, I don’t know, it just didn’t feel right, I don’t know why.

“The second half, I thought we came out strong, started well, could’ve had a couple of goals to be honest before we did score.

“Listen, I thought they were better than us over 90 minutes. I thanked the fans. I’m sorry about, I apologised to them about the result.”

VCD Athletic got off to a dream start, taking the lead after only 72 seconds, through sloppy defending from Faversham Town’s centre-half Callum Davies.

Goalkeeper Archie Burford kicked the ball to Davies, who was pressed high up the pitch by Babalola.  The loose ball was pounced on to by Heatley, who fed the ball back to Babalola, who took a touch before clinically placing his right-footed angled drive across the diving goalkeeper to find the bottom far corner from 12-yards.

“A lot of our game plan was to press high, not to give them any time to settle.  Obviously straight into the game we nicked it back high. One-on-one Babs is as good as there is, Babs’ finishing ability is next level,” said Joy.

“He’s another one that adds to what we do. He’s been at levels, been in good changing rooms. We’ve got a young squad, although we’re adding to it with experience, we’ve still got a young squad and we’ve needed those players to come in.

“Babs has been in the final of the Vase, he’s been at good levels of football and he brings a lot of quality. I know he brings a lot of experience, he’s still got an awful lot of quality.”

Warrilow added: “What I’m more disappointed about today is the first half performance. It was so lethargic and fair play to them, they capitalised on it.

“I thought we might be able to switch it around and do the same to them in the second half.  We just wanted the whistle to go at 2-0, which is always that score isn’t it and then we did get the goal and you know what happened, the rest is history.”

When asked what was missing from his boys during their lacklustre first half performance, Warrilow replied: “First half was just a little bit of belief, I think for some reason.  Organisation wise, we were just chasing things.”

Faversham Town were lacklustre during the first half. Left-back Tariq Ossai was awful as he failed to stop Babalola dominate him as the home side often passed the ball around the back before no one in a red shirt pressed centre-half Ben Fitchett travelling towards the half-way line before clipping the ball into the right-channel for Babalola to shine.

Attacking midfielder Bethel Gboda put in a cross from the left, a sliced clearance from Davies at the near-post fell kindly for Babalola, and his swept shot forced Burford to dive to his right to push around his near-post with 11:37 on the clock.

Holding midfielder Connor Dymond played the corner short to Lee Bird, before Dymond recycled the ball into the box, the ball was cleared out to Gboda, whose right-footed drive from 30-yards deflected past the left-hand post.

VCD Athletic’s players were hungry all over the pitch, producing some nice attractive patterns of play.

The first five fouls of this clash ensured that three yellow cards were pulled out of the pocket of referee Benjamin Marshall inside the opening 19 minutes.

VCD Athletic handed former Phoenix Sports and Hythe Town centre-half Dexter Peter, 28, his debut and he put in a dominant performance, which left Faversham Town’s twin strikers of 25-goal Tashi-Jay Kwayie and Parish feeding off scraps.

“I think for him to come into a side where it’s a different system, a different style of play, I thought he was very comfortable.  You could see why he’s played at the level he has,” Joy said of Peter.

“I thought the two centre-halves dealt with their two forwards quite well.  Dexter gives us balance because he’s left-footed but to come into a changing room, he knows people but it’s a new system, a new set-up, new faces. I’ve got to be honest, I think he gets better for us as well.  He’s a massive signing for us.”

VCD Athletic squandered a glorious chance to deservedly double their lead with 23:09 on the clock, as Ossai opened the gate once more.

Right-back Harry Lawrence put over a cross from within the right-channel, the ball sailed over the head of jumping striker Freeman in the middle and found Heatley unmarked at the far post but he lacked composure and stroked his right-footed drive past the near-post.

“Charlie just snatched at it a little bit. I think sometimes Charlie tries too hard.  One thing you can’t question Charlie is his desire.  I think he just needed to maybe have another touch and just relax a little bit,” added Joy.

The best that Faversham Town could do in response was Ossai travelled over the half-way line, Parish drilled a first-time diagonal over to high right-back Ben Gorham, whose cross was comfortably caught in Andy Walker’s midriff at his near-post.

The first half was a tactical battle with Warrilow and VCD Athletic coach Martin McCarthy offering vocal advice to their players and the home side were the better team during a dominant first half performance.

Faversham Town’s holding midfielder Frannie Collin put in his usual quality delivery from a free-kick and Davies’ header from inside a crowd of players beat a flapping Walker and the goal was ruled out by Christopher Bowdery’s raised offside flag (29:33).

“A whipped in free-kick, Callum’s not offside when he goes to head that ball in but his flag’s up as soon as he’s kicked it, so it’s not looking into what area the ball’s going into,” claimed Warrilow.

VCD Athletic produced a well-worked move, which lead to them doubling their lead with 37 minutes and 50 seconds on the clock.

Walker bowled the ball out to centre-half Fitchett, who travelled towards the half-way line before feeding a deep Freeman, who superbly trapped the ball before sweeping it out to Babalola, who cut into the box before slipping in Gboda who drew a foul from Matthew Newman just outside the corner of the six-yard box and the referee pointed to the spot.

Heatley squeezed his right-footed penalty into the bottom left-hand corner, despite Burford diving the right way and sticking out his right-hand in an attempt to make the save.

“It was very pleasing to get the goal just before half-time, it was a big important thing as well.  We firmly believe if we play our way and we defend well, we’re going to be a tough side for anyone to come and beat,” warned Joy.

“The plan all day was to try to get Bethel in pockets on the half-turn, driving at their back four.  We managed to find him in a lot of good areas, especially in the first half.

“Bethel driving in the box, I don’t think there is anyone better in the league and it was a foul and the penalty came to Charlie.  There were a few raised eyebrows but whoever was going to take the penalty everyone’s always thinking ‘oh god,’ but great strike, bottom corner, job done.”

Warrilow added: “Dangle a leg, no qualms, penalty, so 2-0.

“We were nowhere near it, nowhere near it (performance wise) in the first half. We got in some good areas at times.”

VCD Athletic almost pulled off an excellent well-worked move with 43:20 on the clock, similar, sorry, better than England’s third goal in their emphatic 4-1 Wembley win over Netherlands in Euro 96.  All that was missing was Alan Shearer’s right-boot.

Lawrence played the ball into Gboda, before Lawrence squared the ball to Freeman in the middle, who teed up Heatley, who then played in left-back Tom Carlse on the over-lap, who lacked composure and sent his left-footed drive sailing over the crossbar.

“I think we felt we could get at them with legs. We thought energy would cause them some problems,” replied Joy, when asked what Faversham’s weaknesses were, although Carlse keeping the dangerous winger Nathan Wood in his pocket for the entire game helped.

“Listen, they’re a good side. They’re solid, they’ve got players that have played at great levels. They’re well-organised but we just felt if we could nick the ball back high with the pace and power that we’ve got going forward, we can cause them problems and that’s pretty much what happened all day.”

Reflecting on the move that almost lead to a special goal, Joy replied: “The thing is we work on things like that. Now in hindsight, it’s easy to say but all Tuesday night we were working on overloads and overlaps around the outside and playing through the middle and switching the play quick.

“As a management team, it’s so pleasing to see the things that we work on in training actually come into fruition on the Saturday.”

VCD Athletic went route-one with Walker kicking the ball upfield out of his hands, the ball skimmed off the head of Davies and Freeman easily cut inside Ossai but he tried to score from a tight angle close to the by-line and smashed his shot into the base of the side netting.

Joy admitted: “It was a poor choice from Ollie.  I think it would’ve been better to cut it back but listen, he’s a centre-forward. His job is to score goals, so I’m never going to moan at him for trying to put it in the net.”

Both manager’s were asked their thoughts going into the break.

Joy said: “We knew they were going to come strong. We said we’ve got to get through the first 20 minutes unscathed, if possible.  We knew they were going to throw everything at us and probably change their shape. They took a little bit longer to change the shape than what we were expecting but listen, they’re going to come.

“They’re not top of the league for no reason. They’re powerful,, they’re good at what they do but I thought we weathered it quite well.”

Warrilow added: “Yes I did, I had a go at them but that will stay in house. I did have a dig at them but at least we’ve got a reaction because we went out second half and started it really well.”

With Warrilow’s ear-bashing still ringing in their ears, Faversham Town’s players upped their desire levels and tempo from the first whistle of the second half.

The Lilywhites missed a glorious chance on the counter-attack with six minutes and 48 seconds on the clock.

Carlse put in a corner, the ball was cleared and quiet Billy Bennett broke out of the Faversham penalty area before releasing Kieron Campbell down the left.  He played in Wood (who beat the offside trap) and put it on a plate for unmarked Parish, who swept a first time right-footed shot across Walker and flashing past the far post.

Warrilow said: “A good chance. Dan knows that, so it’s done, but yes, it was a very good chance. So was the one that he’s caught the keeper off his line.”

Joy added: “I think it was a good move from them but I think it was a lack of concentration from us.  We just switched off and allowed players to just run off the back of us, which hasn’t happened a lot today but it’s the level of football.

“If we was on it for 90 minutes, a lot of these boys wouldn’t be playing at this level, so we’re going to allow lapses, it happens.”

Faversham Town goalkeeper Burford pulled off a good stop at his near-post to deny the home side scoring again.

Lee Bird released Heatley down the left and he cut inside and placed his right-footed shot towards the bottom near corner, only for Burford to swiftly get down low to his right to use a strong right hand to push around the post for the sixth of seven VCD corners.

“It was a good save. We thought it had squeezed in,” said Joy.

“We tell Charlie to pull the trigger as much as he can, especially when it goes in or the keeper parries, it creates another chance but the pleasing thing was although we were defending well, we were still creating, which is good because sometimes you can go into defensive mode but we never did today, which was nice.”

Warrilow added: “I think Archie made one save and I’m trying to think if Walks made one?  It’s not exactly a game of chances but we were over stretched trying to get back in the game.”

Freeman dropped deep and played Gboda into space on the edge of the penalty area and his right-footed shot on the turn whistled just over the crossbar, before Warrilow called over Kwayie, Wood and Campbell for some tactical advice beside the touchline in front of the away dug-out.

It worked, however, as Newman’s hooked clearance out of defence fell to Parish, who went close with a right-footed chip from 25-yards, which only just cleared the top far corner of the goal.

Parish showed great character to score with his next attempt just 31 seconds later, as Faversham Town got on the scoreboard with 16 minutes and 4 seconds on the clock.

The home side lost possession inside their defensive third and Kwayie played a short pass inside from the left into Parish, who cracked an emphatic right-footed shot across Walker to find the roof of the net from 25-yards.

“Dan knows he’s got to do better with one and even the one he’s lobbed the keeper with, I think he’ll be disappointed he’s not hit the target but listen, I’m not digging him our or nothing, but I’m just saying these are the fine margines,” said Warrilow.

“He then gets a fantastic goal, so richly deserved and you felt it changed. I thought we started (the second half) well.”

Joy added: “That’s what Dan does. Dan’s a fantastic footballer. There’s not a side in the division and probably the division above that Danny doesn’t play in and you know if you give him a sniff, he’s going to take his chances.

“When we concede, the most important thing is then we don’t make another mistake straight away and then we’re under pressure, so I thought once we conceded, we regrouped really quickly and kept calm and they never really caused any more problems.

“Dan’s not your average centre-forward. Dan’s top drawer. Whatever you would say to a striker, don’t worry about the ones you miss because you’re going to get another chance and he knows that and that’s why he’s playing in this (Faversham) side. They’re going to create chances for him, he’s a real top player.”

Warrilow hooked Davies and Bennett on the hour-mark with Hasler (14:30) and striker Johan Caney-Bryan (14:41) entering the field.

Hasler only lasted 170 seconds before he was thrown in the sin-bin (17:20-27:54) and VCD Athletic scored their third goal during this period, the goal coming with 20 minutes and 27 seconds on the clock.

Midfielders Zak Bryon (substitute) and Dymond linked up close to the half-way line before the ball was worked out to Heatley, who put the ball in behind emergency centre-half Collin and Freeman’s sublime first touch set up a clinical right-footed shot into the bottom right-hand corner from 16-yards.

The Lilywhites’ back line at the time was Newman (left-back), Collin, Gorham and Ossai (right-back).

“But then a bit of discipline comes in it. For what he’s got sin-binned for, is an absolute joke. This is the second time, we’ve had the same linesman sin bin one of our players (Nathan Wood during the 5-1 win at Bearsted),” fumed Warrilow.

“I think that kills it a little bit, not a little bit, it kills it because we’ve changed shape. Hasler was an important part of it and I thought we’ll get amongst it but we didn’t get a chance to do it.

“Hasler killed the lads’ today. He knows that, but it’s done now. But at the same time, it’s a terrible decision from the linesman. He’s got to grow thick skin because no one’s really given it to him or sworn to him.”

When asked what Hasler said, Warrilow replied, “He said ‘that’s s**t, that’s s**t’ or something like that. He (the assistant referee) needs to get thicker skin because that to me is a throw-away comment.”

Reflecting on Freeman’s clinical finish, Warrilow replied: “They’ve got the third goal, which I suppose takes your wind out of your sails, is the word I’m looking for and we’ve just got to try to dig in and create chances on counter-attacks until the sin-bin finishes.

“He (Freeman) had no one round him so he should finish it, so I don’t know what you want me to say on that!”

Joy said: “It was a good finish. Look, I don’t like the sin-bin. I don’t think you’ll speak to any manager who says they like the sin-bin but it’s here. You have to keep your noise down!

“I don’t know what was said, I don’t know whether it was just or not, again from our point of view, we’ve got to make it count and we did.

“Ollie scores a lot of goals but Ollie works so hard. He’s usually on his feet on 70 minutes and now we’ve brought Reece Grant in, it gives Ollie that little licence to push hard because he knows he’s got a replacement ready to go.

“Ollie deserves all the luck in the world. He’s had a move here (from Bearsted) and he’s hit the ground running and really never looked back.”

Warrilow then changed formation to a back three with two wing-backs, with Parish and Caney-Bryan up top, with Kwayie and Wood (who both offered very little during the game) behind them in attack.

However, Hasler’s woeful performance was summed up as he opened the gate for VCD Athletic’s fourth goal, timed at 31 minutes and 37 seconds on the clock.

The goal summed up Vickers’ desire to win the ball high, as Dymond picked the pocket of Ossai, before Freeman played in Babalola, who controlled the ball before turning and stroking his right-footed shot across the keeper to find the left-hand corner.

“It was a nice move. It was nice to get the cushion,” said Joy.

“A special mention from me for Connor Dymond. I thought he was excellent today. I thought he dominated the middle of the park, in the air and on the floor and he’s so vocal. He’s like having two captains with him and Ben Fitchett on the pitch. He’s a massive asset to us.

“When we concede there’s times where you can panic. People like Connor keep everyone grounded.

“Yes, it was a good move. It was nice and it did take the sting out of the game a little bit so we could, not enjoy the last 10 minutes, it was a little bit more comfortable.”

Warrilow added: “It was a similar goal really. We gave it away cheaply, again trying to play it in too tight of an area.  He’s through on his own and again he's not really hit it properly, but he’s hit it into the g round and that’s gone in as well.

“I think 4-1, that’s definitely, you just want the game to finish then. I’m not annoyed about the result. I’m annoyed that we’ve lost but I’m annoyed of how we lost because I generally think that if we had 11 men for a little bit longer, we just scored the goal and anyone that was here could see it changed because we started well.

“We had a couple of chances prior to that and then we got it so we’re creating well and then we get a decision like that.  That restricts us to 10 men for 10 minutes and then it just slows the game, the momentum of the game, right down.”

Ossai delivered a deep ball into the Vickers’ penalty area and Caney-Bryan’s flicked header from the edge of the box forced Walker to get down low to his left to hold – but this was a poor performance from Faversham Town, whereas the clinical VCD Athletic were outstanding.

Faversham Town (16 wins, five draws and two defeats) have picked up 53 points from their 23 (of 38) league games.

“They’re gutted, they’re gutted aren’t they but it’s alright being gutted but you’ve just got to get on with life,” added Warrilow.

“We’ve not had a poor season! We’re still top. They’ve got to win their game in hand.

“I’m not a great lover of the over-celebrations to be honest but that’s the way club’s do things now. I’ve got a lot of time for the boys up here, I’ve got a lot of history with these and the Phoenix lads.

“The season ain’t over yet. We’re still five points in front. They’ve got a game in hand. There’s a long way to go but we’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves.

“There’s still 15 games to play, 45 points to play for, so of course the title is up for grabs. If I was fifth or sixth, or whatever, I’ll still be looking at it going ‘this could happen, that could happen.’

“We’ve got a few little knocks and niggles, nothing to write home about but no, it’s just not a good day is it. You have them in football. I’ll accept it and get on with it.

“I’m not going to go overboard about it. I’ve said to the boys afterwards what I said and I’ll always say that will always stay in house but it is what it is.

“We’ve just got to make sure that February is another good month but apart from today, League wise, it’s been a good month for us. We got a 3-2 win (at Corinthian), a 0-0 (at home to Fisher), an 8-1 (at home to Lydd), and a 4-0 win (at Hollands & Blair), against some very good sides.

“Today, we’ve not, so you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth.”

VCD Athletic (14 wins, six draws and two defeats) have picked up 48 points from their 22 games, and Fisher (47 points from 26 games), Punjab United (41 points from 24 games) and Larkfield & New Hythe (39 points from 26 games) remain in the play-off zone tonight.

“We’ve just got to keep taking it a week at a time,” said Joy.

“A lot of people didn’t expect ius to be in this position, in all honesty, neither did we – but we take it. We roll with it and whatever happens until the end of the season, whether we get promoted, we win the league, we get out of the play-offs, we’re going to do it playing our way!

“The pressure might build now because before the game all we were hearing was ‘the league’s over, Faversham’s won the league!’

“We never expected to be in the mix to win the league at the start of the season. Maybe we’re still not but we were hearing that Faversham have won the league before a ball was even kicked, so for them to come here eight points in front, the pressure was on us.  We feel if we would’ve lost today, it’s probably done. A point probably would’ve suited them but the pressure’s building because we’re playing well.

“It’s not a smash and grab. We’ve not defending for 90 minutes and hit them on the break. We’ve proper took it to them, to the champions-elect if you like I suppose, but we’re fighting – we’re not going nowhere.  It’s a fight to the end.

“Listen, we’ve got some tough games. We’ve got to go to Fisher, we’ve got to play Bearsted twice. Lordswood come here. We’ve got to play Whitstable. We’ve got some real, real tough games but Faversham might win every game now until the end of the season, they’re capable of that.

“Let’s have it right. They’re a very, very good side. They just didn’t turn up today for whatever reason. We were good. They weren’t at it and we took advantage but all we can do is win our games. If they slip up, we need to make sure we’re there to punish them!

“I think we were just better than them on the day. I think we were better than them in every department. I think Tommy will say that. I think we showed a lot of character, we showed a lot of desire. We showed a lot of quality and the boys stuck to the game plan and I thought it was thoroughly deserved.”

VCD Athletic lock horns with Hellenic League Premier Division leaders Hartpury University in the Last Sixteen of The FA Vase next Saturday.

The Gloucestershire side have lost twice in their 27 league games this season and are three points clear of Mangotsfield United in the table.

Freeman and Michael Fenn (who scored the only goal in their win over Epsom & Ewell in the last round last weekend) will be serving suspensions, having picked up a couple of bookings in The FA Vase  this season.

“Very tough! We’ve had them watched, we’ve done a bit of research on them. By all accounts a lot of their team are ex-Premier League Academy boys that have fallen away or they’re studying there, so we’re under no illusions, it’s going to be tough,” warned Joy.

“They’re a young side. They’re the same as us. You don’t go this far in the Vase unless you’ve got something about you and for all the research and the watching games, it’s a lottery. We don’t see them play. We’ve not played them but we’re ready.  You’ve seen the performance today. The quality, the experience, the desire.

“No one’s coming here and no one’s going to have an easy day and just walk away with a victory here! You’ve got to have to earn it.”

Faversham Town, meanwhile, welcome First Division side Staplehurst Monarchs to Salters Lane in the Challenge Cup Third Round on Tuesday night.

Paul Atkins’ side are in eleventh-place in the table with 27 points (eight wins, three draws, eight defeats) and beat Tooting Bec 3-0 at home today.

Warrilow said: “Listen, like the other cup, we’ll see who’s picked up knocks from today.  We didn’t want to go out of the Kent Senior Trophy but we put a side out that was good enough to perform and obviously we didn’t on the night and it will be the same against Staplehurst Monarchs.

“We won’t be taking them lightly but we’ll be wanting to play a game of football to get that winning habit back to take into the league (home to Hollands & Blair) on Saturday.

“We want a win because we want to get that winning mentality back and the most important thing is to bounce back with three points on Saturday.

“The fans are brilliant. Listen, they deserve a bit of success down (at Faversham) and we’re trying our best to give it to them but hopefully they’ll appreciate that road will be some bumps in it and today was one of those bumps.

“I’ve got no qualms to say we were better than VCD and this that and the other. I don’t think we were but without standing here and sounding like a stuck record, we came out second half, we started on the ascendancy. We had two good chances, we scored a goal and then we had a man sent off which changes a little bit, changes the dynamic of the game but who knows?

“We could’ve gone on to win it. We could’ve gone on and lose it – but not with 11 men.”

When asked who has the pressure in this title race, Warrilow replied: “No one really. At the end of the day, the hard part is getting to the top of the league and the hardest part is staying there.

“I think I’ve got enough experience and quality in there to do that but you don’t do it just through reputation. You’ve got to do it through digging in and doing the hard graft.”

VCD Athletic: Andy Walker, Harry Lawrence, Tom Carlse, Connor Dymond, Ben Fitchett, Dexter Peter, Charlie Heatley (Nathaniel Olawole 70), Lee Bird, Ollie Freeman (Reece Grant 77), Bethel Gboda (Zak Bryon 60), Francis Babalola (George Whitelock 85).
Sub: Michael Fenn

Goals: Francis Babalola 2, 77, Charlie Heatley 38 (penalty), Ollie Freeman 66

Booked: Harry Lawrence 8, Ben Fitchett 11

Faversham Town: Archie Burford, Ben Gorham, Tariq Ossai, Frannie Collin (Daniel Thompson 84), Callum Davies (Samuel Hasler 60), Matthew Newman, Kieron Campbell, Billy Bennett (Johan Caney-Bryan 60), Tashi-Jay Kwayie, Danny Parish, Nathan Wood.
Subs: Ian Draycott, Jarred Trespaderne

Goal: Danny Parish 62

Booked: Callum Davies 19, Tariq Ossai 35

Temporary Dismissal:  Samuel Hasler 63

Attendance: 340
Referee: Mr Benjamin Marshall
Assistants: Mr Steven Tunnicliffe & Mr Christopher Bowdery